I was at a restaurant the other day and I saw a mom using sign language with her baby.  I asked the more if her daughter knew many signs.  She told me she knew three: more, all done, and milk.  I asked her if she had taught her older kids sign language when they were babies and if she’d taught them more signs.  She said she had taught them sign language, but just the same three signs.  Then she said, but I don’t know why I do it, because it’s not like I can’t tell that they want more food when they try and grab it, and I know they’re all done when they push the food away.

My reply to her was, oh that’s too bad… maybe you should teach her more signs.  I was able to teach my children other food signs and when they woke up in the morning they’d tell me they wanted some bread, or a banana.  They could also tell me they were thirsty, but they wanted milk, not water.

This is just one example of how using sign language made it easier to know exactly what my children wanted.  A lot of parents I’ve talked to that haven’t gone on to teach their babies more signs just don’t see the benefit, but once they realize how much more their babies understand and are able to do with sign language, they are blown away!

Why not use sign language with your baby, it’s easy, has incredible lasting benefits, and it’s fun!

Andrea Ploehn

I love this stage of baby signing. My son is in the signing burst stage of baby signing… he can’t get enough. He’s at the point now that when I introduce a sign he can almost immediately reproduce it. He understands that I am teaching him a gesture that will represent something, so when I start signing, he watches and waits to see what I’m saying. Watch this video of Ben signing, he just turned 13 months this week.

My 11 month old already signs back to me.  So far Ben can sign: mom, dad, eat, more, up, all done, dog, and bed.  When he starts to get a little fussy and I’m not sure if he’s hungry or tired I just ask him while signing, ” do you want to eat”, or ” are you tired, do you want to go to bed?”  And it’s amazing at 11 months old he’ll tell me.  Sometimes when I didn’t even know he was tired he’ll sign bed to me… and what do you know I put him in bed and he’s happy.  It always surprises me at how smart babies are, and most of the time the parents have no idea how much their child understands. 

I love baby sign language!!!  I hope parents with little ones don’t miss out on this, because it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done as a parent by far.

Andrea Ploehn

Here is a video of Ben my 9 month old signing up.  A lot of the time when babies start signing back the parents don’t recognize that the baby is trying to produce a sign.  If you pay attention and notice that they are attempting to copy you or tend to do the same thing over and over when you say or sign a word, then give them positive reinforcement by acknowledging their attempt and then help them by taking their hands and help them do the sign again.

Andrea Ploehn

I’m so excited about some new videos  we just finished filming… they’re being edited right now.  I’ve developed an amazing program that has 13 lessons in it.  I decided to put this program together so that parents don’t get overwhelmed and they know exactly what to do and when to do it.  I’ve been teaching baby sign language classes for years now and I tend to get the same questions from parents over and over.  So I took the most common questions and I’ve given you straight forward answers. 

Each lesson contains new signs to work on,  research about baby sign language, skill development tips, personal stories on how the signs worked for me, video clips of babies in the stages of signing, how to implement the new signs, and much more!

I haven’t seen anything else like this anywhere.  This is the ultimate parents guide!  I feel it’s so important for the parents to learn how to use sign language so that they are the primary influence on the babies learning experience.  If the parent isn’t giving their child added attention and interaction, then many of the benefits that are connected with baby signing don’t tend to happen.  The key is the added involvement and connection that the parent has with the child.

I know you guys are going to love this, I’ll let you know when we have everything together!

Andrea Ploehn, www.signing4baby.com

Ben started signing up at 8 months and more at 9 months old.  Here are some great video clips so that you can see some examples of the very first attempts of a baby using sign language.

Ben just turned 8 months old and recognizes 5 signs and can sign 1.  This is so fun! I have three kids, so this is my third time personally teaching one of my children sign language and it is still so amazing.  I love the way Ben watches me and smiles with pride when he actively communicates with me. 

Oh yeah, I thought you guys might enjoy watching this fun infomercial that I’m in.  Don’t make fun of me, I was major pregnant with Ben, but it’s fun to watch.

http://dcs_infomercial.s3.amazonaws.com/Infomercial.html

I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am signing with their babies.

Andrea Ploehn

Most infants starting as early as 5 months give their parents sure signs of communication.  Some of them grunt for things they want or hit the table to get attention.  They look at you like you should understand exactly what is going on in their head.  That’s why it’s such an awesome feeling to see your infant sign for the first time, because you know what is going on in their head.   My little Ben has become quite a mommas boy… probably because if he’s left on the ground he’ll get wrestled by his two year old brother.  Every time I pick him up I say up and sign up.

Just this last week when he’d crawl over to me I’d say “up” and he would raise one of his arms up, attempting to mimic my signing.  Of course he didn’t do the sign perfectly, but I knew what he was trying to say.  When your child begins signing, 9 out of 10 times they wont do it perfectly.  Many parents don’t even pick up on the fact that their child is attempting to signs.  You really have to watch for it.

My cousin for instance said she’d been signing to her son for a few months, but he didn’t seem interested.  I was spending the day with her so I tried to watch for any signs he might be trying and sure enough, he was definitely signing “more”.  He would sort of clap his hands together, so she didn’t really recognize that he was using this as his way of saying more.  We experimented with him a little and again and again, he used the same clapping motion to sign more.

It’s important that once you realize your baby is attempting to sign, you praise them and acknowledge their communication.  Also remember that each time they attempt a sign, it;s helpful to take their hands and put them in the correct positions so they can feel how to do the sign correctly.  It wont take long before they are little communicating machines!

I can tell Ben is starting to recognize and respond to some of the signs.  When ever I sign eat he starts reaching for food, it’s such a cool thing.  Even though he’s the third child I’ve done sign language with it still amazes me at how small these little kids are.  Just my personal opinion but I really feel like parents that don’t do sign language with their kids miss out on a lot.  If I hadn’t done sign language with my children I know I wouldn’t have picked up on a lot of the little things… and I wouldn’t have realized they were understanding me at such a young age.  Having Ben respond to my signing is so much fun to see.  I’ve recently added a few more signs and I’m looking forward to him progressing each day.

Andrea Burton Ploehn, www.signing4baby.com

My son Ben is now 5 and a half months old.  He has become a lot more aware of his mommy.  When I leave the room he’ll start to whimper until I pop my head back in and then he smiles.  He reaches for me when I walk past him and he’s constantly grabbing for everything.  I can tell when my 2 year old walks in the room because Ben will let out a screech even before the toddler comes near him.  He’s already learned that Brandon usually means trouble.  It’s amazing how early they recognize cause and effect patterns.

When you start to notice your baby reaching some of these developmental stages, it’s a good time for you to engage your infant in learning new things.  They are extremely curious and their minds are like little sponges, ready to absorb the world around them.  This is an ideal time to really start using sign language consistently.  Some of you may have already been using signs here and there with your baby already.  If you haven’t started yet, don’t wait any longer.  Your baby is just itching to learn new things and he trusts you to give him the information he needs to continue to develop.

Many parents have told me that after their child reaches this stage in development they can tell that he picks up on the meaning of the signs they are using very quickly.  I personally agree, I noticed my children have become intensely aware of the signs I use right around this point.  Up until now they had been in the first stage, Entertainment. It was very clear to me that they were moving on to the second developmental stage of baby sign language, Comprehending. After the child reaches this stage you can be sure it wont be long until they progress very quickly through the remaining stages and will be signing back to you very soon.

I’ve decided to post the developmental stages for you again so that you can easily track your child’s progression.

Developmental Stages of Baby Sign Language: helpful answers to questions

I know that sometimes it can be confusing when you first start to use sign language with your baby.  It’s hard to know if you’re doing it right, or if the baby is responding how they should.  One thing that I found was helpful was to look for the different stages of signing.  We like to call it the baby sign experience.

The stages to look for are:

1.  Entertainment- at first your baby will just watch you, he thinks it’s fun to see your hands moving, and your facial expressions.

2.  Comprehending- your baby will begin to understand your signs, even though he wont be able to imitate the sign himself.

3.  Sign Success- your baby will be able to produce a sign on his own.

4.  Sign Trials- your baby will experiment with signs, using them in different contexts.

5.  Signing Feast and Fun- your baby has gotten to the point that he fully understands that using signs represents other objects, emotions, actions, etc… He will then look to you for more signs so that he can continue to more fully express himself.

These are the basic 5 stages of baby sign language.  If you want more details and specific examples of the stages you can visit the signing 4 baby home page at www.signing4baby.com

Remember to be consistent… and I promise the results will be amazing!

Andrea Ploehn, Signing 4 Baby Founder